How the US$200 Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini will be worshipped by Caribbean people – Why Colours make Budget smartphones sells

If you’re in the market for a budget smartphone, then you might want to consider the smartphones being made by the TCL Corporation.

Their most well-known is the Alcatel OneTouch line has given birth to the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini  as reported in the article “The Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini is smaller and prettier (hands-on)”, published February 22, 2014 by Aloysius Low, CNET News.

A high-end smartphone, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini, which costs between US$200 to US$250, is closely related to the bigger Idol 2 smartphone.  It is one of two smartphones, the other being the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini S, which has 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) built in!

So aside from the price, what else does the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini have to its advantage?

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini – Single Handed surfing with Five Fingaz to da face

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini comes with a new charger/adapter, headset and guide, typical packaging for most smartphones.

It weighs in at 110 g (3.88 oz) and has dimensions of 129 x 63.5 x 7.9 mm (5.08 x 2.5 x 0.31 in). 4.5” screen Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini fit nicely in your hand making two-handed gameplay something you’ll relish on your JUTC bus ride to work!

Those games will benefit from five (5) finger multi-touch and can withstand finger and oily face smudges thanks to its Oleophobic coating.

It’s also a Dual-SIM Smartphone, which suggests that the TCL Corporation is trying to push the idea in the Caribbean as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Trend towards Dual-SIM Smartphones developing in Jamaica as MNP Approaches”.

4.5” screen smartphone is a capacitive qHD IPS touchscreen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. That results in a pixel density of 245 ppi pixel density. The screen is made from high strength unscratchble Dragontrail glass ensconced in a nice metallic finish but in a fusion of brighter colour options:

1.      Cloudy

2.      Full White

3.      Hot Pink

4.      Slate

So what powering the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini under the hood?

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini – Gimme a break of that KitKat smartphone

The Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini has a Quad Core 1.2 GHz CPU that runs on Google Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. This processor also supports the function of the GPS, proximity sensor, accelerometer and magnetometer.

You can upgrade to Google Android 4.4 KitKat, or you can opt to dress it up in your style with custom Android Launcher as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to change your smartphone Home Screen and create a Personal Assistant using Android Launchers”.

Dependent on whether the smartphone is a single SIM or Dual SIM, the Internal memory and RAM configuration differs slightly:

1.      4 GB Internal memory, 1 GB RAM (Single SIM)

2.      8 GB Internal memory, 1 GB RAM (Dual SIM)

So these average memory specs, how well does it take photographs?

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini Camera – Ready for the Videolight

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini’s 8 Megapixel Rear-facing Camera takes 3264 x 2448 pixels images and does 1080p video. HDR (High Dynamic Range), autofocus and a LED flash, guarantee Social Media ready photos of the highest quality.

The 2 Megapixel front-facing Camera can only manage 720p quality video at 30fps is great for taking selfies nonetheless.

You’ll love the panorama function and the touch focus and face detection combined with Geo-tagging allows you to take finely focused and wide angle pictures and know when and where your photos were taken.

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini Camera – Ears are alive with the Sound of Music

MP3 and WAV Music files will need space, hence the convenient microSIM Card that supports 32 GB of External Memory. 

Browsing the Internet via the-HTML Browser 3G Internet or Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n is one o the perks of owning the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini. Sharing is caring and you can share your Internet with up to five (5) persons. It even synchs with DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) or Wi-Fi Direct compatible to allow music and video streaming!  

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini  - Music and Video Player in your ear

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini has an excellent music player that supports MP3, AAC+, WAV, WMA file playback.

This will sound great with a decent pair of Bluetooth and wired headphones such as those listed in my blog article entitled “Five Great Over-the-Ear Headphones - Noise Cancelling, Comfortable, Fashionable Bluetooth Music Streaming”. It also supports great video playback as the default Video player is DivX, MP4 and H.264 compatible.

Active noise cancellation dedicated microphone, the viewing and editing of photos and Stereo FM radio makes the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini every great reporter tool.

All you need is a US$100 Microsoft Universal Foldable keyboard that’ll connect via Bluetooth and you can type anywhere as explained in my MICO Wars Blog article entitled “Microsoft’s Universal Foldable keyboard is Bluetooth Typing Bliss”.

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini – Battery life adequate for all day Music

The Li-Ion 1700 mAh battery recharges via a micro USB v2.0. Once fully charged, you get up to 450 h of standby on the 2G GSM Network and up to 400 h while using 3G Internet.

Talking lowers drops your battery life to 12 h on the 2G GSM Network which drops further to 5 h (3G) while using 3G Internet.

The Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini can give you whole day entertainment without a Portable Battery charger as describe in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to extend your smartphone’s battery Life with a Portable Battery Charger”.

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini – Joseph’s coat of Many Colours

At US$200 to US$250 for the dual-SIM version, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini delivers a great experience.

A few good apps, such as the Microsoft Office App as described in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “Microsoft Office 365 goes Freemium Model - One Becomes Three as Word, Excel and PowerPoint with US$6.99 monthly to remove Restrictions”  will make the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini worth worshipping.

Its handy size and metallic finish, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini is a Budget phone arrayed in Joseph’s Coat of many colours.

Here’s the link:

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini

Specs for the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 2 Mini S